"From such indications as these, more or less
definite and certain, ancient manuscripts, now extant,
are assigned to various periods, extending
from the sixteenth, to the fourth century of the
Christian era; or perhaps, in one or two instances,
to the third or second. Very few can claim an antiquity
so high as the fourth century; but not a few
are safely attributed to the seventh; and a great
proportion of those extant were unquestionably
executed in the tenth; while many belong to the
following four hundred years. It is, however, to
be observed, that some manuscripts, executed at so
late a time as the thirteenth, or even the fifteenth
century, afford clear internal evidence that, by a
single remove only, the text they contain claims a
REAL antiquity, higher than that even of the oldest
existing copy of the same work. For these older
copies sometimes prove, by the peculiar nature of
the corruptions which have crept into the text, that
they have been derived through a long series of
copies; while perhaps the text of the more modern
manuscripts possesses such a degree of purity and
freedom from all the usual consequences of frequent
transcription, as to make it manifest that the copy
from which it was taken, was so ancient as not to
be far distant from the time of the first publication
of the work."